Even at the age of 82, Craver really doesn't appear to be the retiring type

While in the military, Craver also earned a Stanford MBA and spent a year at General Dynamics in San Diego. On retiring from the Air Force in 1978, he and Rayma-Lew returned here to found Galaxie Defense Marketing, a firm that helps others win defense contracts. That was his day job. Nights, weekends and random free hours were spent on everything else, from the Chamber to prep football games, where this referee watched future stars Junior Seau (Oceanside High) and Marcus Allen (Lincoln High). In one championship game, he was accidentally knocked out by a lineman.

“But I loved it,” he said. “I liked the teamwork and the chance to work with young people.”

On athletic fields and in board rooms, Craver is a man of many parts. He’s punctual as a Pentagon briefing and as cheery as a Disney cartoon. He’s a pilot who loves to sail. He’s a stoical warrior and a sentimental father, beaming with pride in his son — Joe Craver III is a top executive at SAIC — and wounded by the 1984 death of his daughter, Kellie-Lew Craver.

“All I will say is she was killed. I’m still …” He took a deep breath. “I think it’s something you never get over.”

The stereotype of the my-way-or-the-brig officer? Doesn’t apply here.

“He has a very interesting style,” said Jerry DeFrancisco, the national Red Cross’ president of humanitarian services. “I call it ‘military warm.’ He is commanding, yet he has this incredible humanitarian streak within him.”

That’s one broad streak.

“He attends many meetings, many events and always champions causes he believes in,” said Susan Lew, the former Port Commissioner. “Joe is everywhere.”

Controversial landmark

If you’re everywhere, you’re sometimes in the line of fire. In 2001, Mayor Dick Murphy asked Craver to chair a blue ribbon committee assessing the city’s finances. The group’s April 2002 report proved to be a controversial landmark in the history of the city’s underfunded employee pensions.

“We were the first ones to say, ‘Hey, the pension system is out of whack,’ ” Craver said. “We brought it to the attention of the mayor and city council.”

But some argue the report downplayed the grim data contained in the section on the pension, written by committee member Richard Vortmann.

“Both Dick and I were more concerned than the overall group’s executive summary,” said April Boling, an accountant who served on the committee. “If you read the individual sections, the alarm was greater than the executive summary suggested.”

Vortmann declined to be interviewed for this story.

The report, Craver acknowledges, presents an incomplete picture of an impending fiscal catastrophe: “It was just the tip of the iceberg.”

At the same time, another institution was beset by self-inflicted woes. The local Red Cross was slammed for soliciting money to assist an Alpine fire’s victims, then sending the money elsewhere. The national organization fired CEO Dodie Rotherman and her board, suspended the local chapter’s bylaws and hired former police chief (and future mayor) Jerry Sanders as CEO.